Whiting: Student runs marathons on all continents

In May, Marina White of Fountain Valley finished her seventh marathon on the world's seven continents, the final one along China's Great Wall. It turned out to be an epic race with more than 10,000 feet of elevation. TEXT BY DAVID WHITING, COURTESY OF MARINA WHITE

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Marina White keeps going during the Antarctica Experience Marathon in March 2010 on King George Island, Antarctica. COURTESY MARINA WHITE

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During the marathon in Africa, Marina White made friends. From left: John Furmo of Houston, Texas, Tanja Bosch and Josh Ogada of Capetown, South Africa, and White. COURTESY OF MARINA WHITE

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Two of Marina White marathon medals include one from Chile, left, and one from Antarctica. COURTESY MARINA WHITE

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In Tanzania, Marina White, right, met Deborah Moore and ran part of the race with Moore. COURTESY OF MARINA WHITE

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Marina White with her medal after the Pacific Shoreline Marathon in February 2007 in Huntington Beach. COURTESY MARINA WHITE

At 27, Marina White already has run places most can only imagine – South America's tip, China's Great Wall, Antarctica's permanently frozen ground.

As of this week, she's run 132 marathons – including at least one in 46 states. She's also run marathons on each of the globe's seven continents.

Sure, White's outdoor resume resembles that of a single-minded runner, someone possessed with the podium. But the graduate student in a doctoral program at UCI isn't a speedster. Early in her journey, she discovered something many runners never realize:

The pleasures of being in the back of the pack.

But don't confuse pace with endurance. White has the stamina and fortitude to take on back-to-back marathons as well as ultra-marathons.

And an ultra is pretty much what her marathon on the Great Wall turned out to be.

MORE FUN IN BACK

As an undergraduate at UC Santa Barbara, White majored in health psychology. That and a whole lot of running led to her current pursuit – a Ph.D. in psychophysiology, the connection between brain and body.

"I'm interested in how emotions work during exercise," White explains, "how likely you are to exercise in the future."

In some respects, White was her own subject – along with many others. She reports that in the back of the pack, runners have a more laid back attitude.

"There's a different mindset they bring to it," White reports of slower runners. "They're more balanced about it. They seem to enjoy it more."

Perhaps it's not surprising – and there are plenty of exceptions – that White discovered that the difference between taking a sport too seriously and being more relaxed can be the difference between continued enjoyment and suffering to the point that you don't return.

Of extreme runners, she offers, "You're more likely to burn out."

She echoes what I found running parts of a TransRockies Run toward the rear. "People are really just enjoying the back. It's so alive, very social."

White also discovered something shared between slow and fast runners.

Mutual respect.

COUCH SURFING

Runners who finish early admire those still out on the course, White points out. After all, the longer you're out there, the tougher it gets.

Of her own style, White explains she runs to forget the pressures of everyday life, the worries that go along with jobs and academics. She offers, "You can drive yourself crazy if you think too much. I run to clear my mind."

With travel part of her work, White soon found she was running in more and more states. She's now run in 46 states. Then – almost by accident – she got the idea of running a marathon on every continent.

"It's my way of escaping."

Just two months after running that first marathon, the Pacific Shoreline Marathon on Feb. 4, 2007, in Huntington Beach, White found herself in Zurich, Switzerland, where there was a marathon.

Three months later, she was in Brisbane, Australia. Yes, another marathon.

In less than a year, White had knocked off three of the seven continents.

Wondering how White funds such excursions, I ask about her secret.

"Have you heard about couch surfing?" she asks. I have. And it's not about surfing the Internet while sitting on the couch. It's about sleeping on the couch – someone else's couch.

In the past decade, couch surfing has grown into an organized and inexpensive way to travel. You register, visit strangers and sleep in their home. The cool part is meeting new people, particularly people who know local customs and share about their homeland.

Three years after running in Australia, White stopped off in Chile on her way to Antarctica.

Eight runners started, five finished, each crossing the finish line in 5:51.

Yes, together.

Four days later, White ran in darkness and sub-freezing temperatures on King George Island, Antarctica.

Two years after that, White ran the Kilimanjaro marathon in Moshi, Tanzania.

Still, nothing prepared her – including the race director – for last month's marathon along China's Great Wall.

White puts it this way: "Apparently the race director did not get permission in time from the government for the regular course, and they had to move the course."

The change meant 10,000 feet in elevation – nearly twice the height of Saddleback Mountain – crumbling paths, making your way on hands and knees.

If you wonder about her report, don't. About a year-and-a-half ago I ran a chunk of the Great Wall, a portion that technically was closed. In parts, the wall all but disappeared. In other areas, it was like climbing a ladder.

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